JEDDAH: The committee of eight Muslim States, set up by the second Islamic Summit Conference held in Lahore, concluded its three-day deliberations here … with a call to the member States of the Islamic Secretariat to take steps for safeguarding the sovereignty of the Third World countries and the right of full control over their natural resources. Emphasising the need for a coordinated stand at the forthcoming emergency session of the UN General Assembly … the committee urged the Islamic States to demonstrate solidarity in compelling the developed countries to end the exploitation of the developing countries.

The committee deliberations centred round issues affecting the entire Muslim world in the field of economy. … The committee, originally having eight members on it — [including] Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, United Arab Emirates and Senegal — was later broadened... . The committee asked the Islamic Secretariat to prepare a study on the establishment of a fund for providing support to balance of payments of those member States whose current economic conditions had been adversely affected by world-wide inflation and general price increases.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024